I’M FOLLOWING UP on yesterday’s post focusing on the book Our Hidden Conversations—What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity by Michele Norris to recommend four related books. But before I get to those books, I must share that Norris will be in Minnesota on Monday, January 20, as the keynote speaker for the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Breakfast at the Minneapolis Convention Center (Exhibit Hall A). The event begins with networking and mingling from 7-7:30 a.m., breakfast from 7:30-8 a.m. and a program from 8-9:30 a.m. The celebration also includes music by Grammy award-winning Sounds of Blackness and a special collaborative performance by Threads Dance Project and Vocalessence. For more information about this 35th annual MLK breakfast, click here.
Now the books:
1959 (reprinted) Edition of The Negro Travelers’ Green Book—Guide for Travel and Vacations
I checked this facsimile of The Negro Travelers’ Green Book out from my local library. This guidebook lists, state by state (and in Canada), the hotels, motels, restaurants, tourist homes and vacation resorts where Blacks were welcome in 1959. This list is revealing and sometimes surprising. And clearly, it’s unsettling to read, understanding the discrimination against Blacks that existed not all that long ago.
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
This New York Times bestseller published in 2010 tells the fictional story of life on a tobacco plantation beginning in the late 1700s from the perspectives of a slave (the daughter of a White master and his slave) and an indentured servant (an orphan from Ireland). Although a work of fiction, The Kitchen House is historical fiction, thus rooted in truth. This is a difficult read. But it’s also an inspiring book that speaks to the strength of the human spirit, the love of family and resilience.
So you want to talk about race by Ijeoma Oluo
Another New York Times bestseller, this one published in 2019, is in my reading stack. The title, So you want to talk about race, pretty much explains the content. The book was gifted to me by someone who left it in my church mailbox. I am grateful. I expect I will gain new insights from reading this book about race.
Winter counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
This award-winning book published in 2020 has been in my reading stack for some time. I am half way through reading Winter Counts and already know I need to recommend this fictional book. Why? The storyline takes the reader onto the Indian Reservations of South Dakota. But what stands out for me is the authenticity of the writing. Author David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, knows of what he writes.
I am not only reading an intriguing novel about a vigilante set on justice for the Lakota community in dealing with illegal drugs and other issues. But I am learning about Lakota culture, beliefs, language and challenges, and a reclaiming of Native identity. This book has proven both educational and eye-opening.
TELL ME: Have you read similar books that you recommend I read? Please feel free to share with a brief summary of the book (s). I’m interested in any genre and in books for children to middle and high schoolers to adults.
© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Thanks for these, Audrey. Last year I read ‘The Invention of Wings’ by Sue Monk Kidd. It was heartbreaking and fascinating and based on actual historical figures. Here’s a summary. (for adults)
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From the Cape Cod Times:
The writer Sue Monk Kidd found the voice that her new book needed when she became smitten with an enslaved girl who is only a footnote to history.
“I could hear Hetty in my head quite clearly,” Kidd says. “She would talk and talk and talk and talk to me.”
In that novel, “The Invention of Wings” (Viking), Kidd gives Hetty what she never had in life: powerfully eloquent words that receive a weight equal to those of her owner, Sarah Grimké, who became a prominent abolitionist and advocate for women. The novel weaves fact and fiction as it considers 35 years of the women’s lives, beginning in Charleston, S.C., in 1803, with their alternating first-person accounts. Hetty goes first.
Thanks for this recommendation, Beth. Another reader, Colleen, recommends the same book. I’m definitely adding this to my reading list.
it’s always good to read books that challenge and educate. I am intrigued by the Winter Counts book— will have to try to find a copy somewhere. Checked the library and no copies so have to do a more extensive search.
I know you are an avid reader. Yes, it is good to stretch ourselves when reading. If you can’t find Winter Counts, let me know. I can send my copy to you when I’ve finished it.
Thank you for your book recommendations to help expand our knowledge of experiences of our friends and neighbors. It’s so incredibly heartbreaking that the Green Travel book had to be written to keep people safe, in our country, “the Land of the Free”.
Right now, I’m reading “Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country: Traveling Through the Land of My Ancestors” by Louise Erdrich. I love this book. It has opened my eyes to see the areas I lived in a whole new way. As a kid I lived in the Northwest Angle, Warroad, and other Lake of the Woods areas. I remember things being cold, harsh, hard, hungry, and exhausting. But Louise shows me the beauty of nature, of Ojibwe history, of traveling as a 47-year-old woman with a little baby. She writes of my favorite things; books, islands, travel, history… I’d love to visit her independent bookstore, Birchbark Books, in Minneapolis.
Another author I recommend is Anton Treuer. I have “The Cultural Toolbox: Traditional Ojibwe Living in the Modern World”. Anton Treuer (pronounced troy-er) is a Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University and author of many books. He is building an Ojibwe teacher training program at Bemidji State University and his equity, education, and cultural work has put him on a path of service around the nation and the world.
And I loved reading “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. She weaves her botanist training with the knowledge of her ancestors in such a beautiful, thoughtful way.
Along with continuing to read for our Nature Book Club, I’m planning to expand my reading in 2025 to include more books from around the world. I’m starting with “A Moonless, Starless Sky: Ordinary Women and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa” by Alexis Okeowo.
Rose, thank you for this lengthy list of books, which I will add to my list. What I appreciate most in your comment is learning about the Ojibwe teacher training program that is being started at Bemidji State University.
Thank you for the list. I recently read The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. A young girl, Sarah Grimke, is growing up in Charleston in the early 1800s. She is “given” her own slave, Handful. Sarah has never wanted that but she and Handful have a unique relationship. The story is told through each of their eyes in alternating chapters. I didn’t realize this was historical fiction with Sarah and her sister eventually becoming abolitionists. They also link the effort to women’s rights. Handful is based on a real life slave and so the reader learns about the lives of house slaves, the splitting of families, the horrible treatment of slaves. Sarah keeps her promise to Handful and sets her free.
BTW, I hope you are fully recovered!
Colleen, thank you for that book recommendation and summary, which another reader, Beth, also suggests I read.
I am much better, having finally tested negative after rebound COVID. I’m experiencing some minor long haul COVID symptoms, hoping they don’t worsen. If my non-mint toothpaste starts tasting super minty, then I know I’m in trouble. And if balance issues return, I know I’m in trouble. Thanks for asking.
Thanks for sharing several more books to add to my to read list
You’re welcome.
I recommend The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. It takes place in and around Mankato, as well as a fictionalized version of what I believe is Morton, and tells the stories of a Indigenous woman who grew up in foster care, as well as her female ancestors who tried to keep their traditions alive. It is one of a very few books that I have rated 5 stars on Goodreads.
I’ve read The Seed Keeper. And you’re right. It deserves five stars. Thank you for recommending Wilson’s book. Here’s my 2021 review of the book: https://mnprairieroots.com/2022/06/21/the-seed-keeper-an-award-winning-book-every-minnesotan-should-read/
The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris by Daisy Wood. I really like Fiona Valpy too. I like reading books in places that I know as well as places that are unknown, especially the people, the stories, the memories, the cultures, the traditions, etc. I love when you find that book treasure that you just want to tuck in and just read it all in one sitting. Happy Reading – ENJOY 🙂
Thanks for your recommendations, Renee. I, too, love those books you can’t put down, that you want to stay up late reading, knowing you shouldn’t because you really need your sleep.
I saw a movie about the Green book, and have read The Kitchen House. An interesting novel worth reading is The Violin Conspiracy by Brian Slocumb (written in 2023) -or did you recommend that one to me?
In 2020 I listened to The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas (written in 2017). Another novel. The protagonist is a teenager. It was very interesting.
And White Fragility is about why it’s hard for white people to talk about racism. I also read that in 2020 and was pretty good from what I remember…but it’s actually getting “old” since it was written in 2018.
Doesn’t matter to me if the book is “old” or new. Thank you for your suggestions, Valerie. And, yes, I did recommend The Violin Conspiracy to you.